Rauner pension plan would end union negotiations, freeze pay

[Omaha Steve]

Source: SF Chronicle

SARA BURNETT

CHICAGO (AP) — Gov. Bruce Rauner says Illinois could save billions of dollars each year through an ambitious new plan to address hugely underfunded pension systems, a proposal he describes as "fair and reasonable" for both government workers and taxpayers.

But labor unions and their supporters — including Democrats who run the Legislature — say it's the latest attempt by the Republican to attach union-busting measures to broader policy changes.

The legislation would prohibit state employee unions from collective bargaining on issues such as wages, vacation and overtime, and would freeze salaries for five years beginning this month. It would then offer workers the option of getting raises, more vacation or more overtime — but only if they agree to switch to a less-generous pension plan.

Democratic leaders declared the plan all but dead last week, while labor unions called it "unconstitutional, unfair to workers and retirees, and a waste of taxpayer dollars and time."

FULL story at link.



Photo: Rich Saal, AP FILE - In this July 8, 2015 file photo, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner speaks outside his Capitol office in Springfield, Ill. In the midst of a state budget crisis, Rauner is floating a solution to Illinois’ other multibillion-dollar problem: the worst-funded public-pension systems in the U.S. The Republican announced legislation this week he said would produce “significant” savings for taxpayers and be fair to workers. (Rich Saal/The State Journal-Register via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT,

Read more: http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Rauner-pension-plan-would-end-union-negotiations-6380273.php

[onethatcares]

1. what a lot of people don't realize

is that the reason pension plans are underfunded is because the rich assholes have looted the companies that made the plans part of a wage package and have not provided their share of funding for the past thirty years.

this entire thing is like watching "goodfellas" over and over and over.

[murielm99]

7. Ruiner is one of those who have done the looting.

He was given pension money to invest. He put some of it into nursing homes, nursing homes that have been fined repeatedly for substandard care. He has so much money that he doesn't blink. He just goes ahead and pays the fines.

[former9thward]

9. This is about public pensions not private.

No companies involved. The looting was done by state government.

[onethatcares]

11. state government minions

that knew exactly what the outcome of privatization would cause.

It's like watching the prickscott government here in Floriduh, or the snotwalker government in wisconsin. The privateers began finding ways to take the peoples assets years ago, now there is no stopping them.

[former9thward]

12. You keep on talking about privatization.

This has nothing to do with it. State government did not fund the state employee pension program. That is the problem. And no it was not Walker or Scott. Democrats have controlled IL state government for decades.

[onethatcares]

13. does it have anything to do with

state governments not having the funds by way of tax dollars to fund pension programs or are pension funds withheld from being deposited in said accounts due to lack of tax dollars to fund infrastructure needs?

Or is it multi collection of pensions by political cronies over the course of years?

I have no pension, no IRA, no Roth but I was under the impression that state pension plans were a form of deferred compensation agreed upon when the hire was made. Am I mistaken?

I'm not busting balls here, I'm interested in knowledge

[former9thward]

14. Pensions, in general, are considered deferred compensation.

However compensation terms can be changed. I worked for IL state government for 14 years. I saw then the pension system was shaky. They offered me a buy out of the pension. I took it and left for another job. I took the money, invested it, and was able to retire 10 years earlier than if I had remained with the state.

State government in IL has been poorly managed. Part of the reason is they do not hire managers based on skills or ability. They hire based on how many votes you are able to deliver to the ward bosses at election time. So you get people in there who don't know what they are doing and just want a paycheck. That has to change if they are able to get a handle on their problem.

[Hoppy]

15. Pensions, including state pensions are deferred compensation.

When I began working in New Jersey, I was told, your salary ain't gonna be as high as you would get in private employment but you will get a pension and health bennies when you retire.

Solidifying the pensions would require either increasing the amount of money the employee contributes, reducing benefits or raising taxes to fund the program.

The problem is that no legislature will likely every vote to raise taxes for any reason. If they do, they get tagged with "Tax and spend liberal." And the rubes listen to this.

The effects of this is that conditions will deteriorate. Roads will develop potholes, bridges will crumble and so forth.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

16. In IL., state govt was supposed to make payments into the pension funds. Too often they didn't.

That's the bottom line. Yes, here and there there were political cronies dipping in when they shouldn't, there are some outrageous pension amounts being collected by a small handful of outliers (like some of the medical faculty at UIC), practices like salary bumps didn't help though I'd say it was worse for optics than anything else, but the bottom line is the state didn't make all the payments and got way behind, letting the fund balances drop to unacceptable levels. It was politically easier to divert those pension fund dollars to other uses (roads, social services, etc.) than to raise revenue and/or trim waste. The unions even sued the state to make the payments some years back but the courts ruled that while the state was obligated to pay the pensioners, it didn't matter where they got the money-- from the pension fund or direct from general revenues.

None of this is new. It goes back decades and decades. It was so worrying people back around 1970 when they drafted a new state constitution that they put in a clause that established (confirmed by the courts a few months ago when the state tried unsuccessfully to unilaterally rewrite the pension deal) pension benefits may not be "diminished or impaired."

There we are. The state has to come up with the money. And there are a number of ways to get there but the Springfield Circus and now Rauner in particular are turning up the partisan heat instead of dealing with it.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

2. So what, precisely, is a union without collective bargaining?

This guy is such a prick. He should be the poster boy for low voter turnout.

[lonestarnot]

3. Fuck Rauner and his pension plan.

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

4. Fortunately for humans, Illinois is not Wisconsin.

We only have to look north to see what the Rauner-Walker policies have done to decimate the economy of Wisconsin.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/11/1401378/-A-Gift-for-Scott-Walker-Rankings

[hobbit709]

5. "Fair and reasonable" depends on which end of the stick you're on.

[AKing]

6. Rauner got elected despite never divulging what his plans were. He's trying to run Illinois just...

like the corporate vulture he's always been.

[murielm99]

8. Remember that the election was almost dead even.

He won by a very narrow margin.

[bucolic_frolic]

10. Collective Bargaining does not mean No Collective Bargaining

Hence the plan is illegal from the get go.